The Biden administration’s campaign to influence social media content censorship is being challenged in court, with a key lawsuit, Kennedy et al. v. Biden, temporarily paused by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The appellate court has returned the matter to a lower court to determine the legal standing of the plaintiffs, including Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and its chairman, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This decision follows a recent Supreme Court ruling in a related case, Murthy v. Missouri, where it was concluded that the plaintiffs lacked the necessary standing.
In March 2023, Kennedy, CHD, and others initiated a class action lawsuit against President Joe Biden and various senior administration officials, accusing them of coercing major US social media platforms into silencing protected speech. This lawsuit parallels a separate case initiated in May 2022, Missouri v. Biden, which involves similar allegations by two states and five social media users against similar administration officials.
The Murthy v. Missouri litigation resulted in a preliminary injunction against the administration, prohibiting any attempts to censor online content. However, the Supreme Court overturned this decision, citing a lack of specific, targeted censorship actions directly affecting the plaintiffs, thus ruling out their standing. Despite this, the preliminary injunction in Kennedy v. Biden remains effective until further rulings, set off by the Supreme Court’s decision on the earlier Missouri case.
The plaintiffs in Kennedy v. Biden argue their standing is more substantiated, citing explicit instances where the administration allegedly pressured social media to censor content related to Kennedy and CHD.
For example, following Biden’s inauguration, a vaccine skeptic tweet by Kennedy was targeted by the White House Digital Director, and subsequent actions saw CHD’s content suppressed on major platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
